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Clarke demands aggression against South Africa

Australian captain Michael Clarke says South Africa should expect "plenty of short stuff" in the first Test at the Gabba starting Friday, while saying a leaked dossier on the Proteas players is not official.

THE first Test in Brisbane is widely reported as just that, still assuming that Australians know what sport it is. This will provide some reassurance for cricket's leaders who, like the US Republican Party, are trying to arrest the perception of an outgoing demographic tide.

It might be too white, too male and too book-length, but Test cricket remains the main game for the elite players and the base that follows them.

Twenty20 is the sport's marketing and outreach department, a dash for cash for those on the way up and the way out. The centrality of the five-day game is personalised in Michael Clarke, Australia's captain, whose devotion to the red-ball version underlines how staunchly he has taken to what traditionalists would call a sacred responsibility.

Warm-up over, now for the real Test: Ricky Ponting and (below) Michael Clarke at training on Thursday. Photo: Getty Images

Perhaps the difference is measurable by Twitter, thanks to which we know all too much about the Twenty20 mega-celebrities: who Shane Warne slept with last night, what movie Chris Gayle watched. From Clarke, a virtual Twitter blackout.

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Even though Clarke is one of 850,000 Australian cricketers and even though his team is one of 39,000 playing this weekend, the importance of the Test team to a sport's self-belief as a national cultural institution is fundamental.

It's been 35 years since our national XI simply comprised our best Saturday-afternoon players, but we still equate their health with that of the game as a whole. In fact, the closer the Australian team has moved to its 19th-century roots as a kind of corporatised professional troupe rather than the apex of a continuous food chain, the more the broader game's morale depends on it. Just ask rugby union.

The question Clarke will be asked over the next month, against the world's No. 1 team, South Africa, is whether he is leading a new era of success or just holding on until the wheel turns again. Was last summer's 4-0 win over India a return to glory, or the one step forward between two steps back?

On paper, Australia looks stronger than in its last home Test, with Victorians James Pattinson, Rob Quiney and Matthew Wade replacing Ryan Harris, Shaun Marsh and Brad Haddin, a trio brought down by injury, poor form and circumstance. Yet, so depressing were the effects of losing to the Proteas and England here after 15 undefeated home summers, Australia will start the series as underdogs.

Surrounded by veterans, novices and improvers, Clarke has more responsibility than the leadership; he is the one Australian at the high noon of his career. Around him are teammates variously finding their feet or in revival mode. Not since Allan Border has the captain been so indisputably the first man picked.

The deeper question, though, is whether Test cricket can retain, or reclaim, its hold on the Australian imagination. Some of that is out of the players' hands. South Africa has already made a significant statement by touring here in spring, not midsummer, placing a higher priority on going home and hosting New Zealand and Pakistan.

In an upside-down summer, the Boxing Day and New Year's Tests will involve Sri Lanka, the undercard being given top billing because, for the first time in decades, Australia's preferences don't dictate the cricketing world's programs. The South Africa Tests are so keenly anticipated it threatens a long anticlimax. Cricket Australia will then look to Twenty20 to save the day.

For Test cricket, Christmas is coming early and the presents will all have been opened by the first week of December. Clarke and Australian cricket will be hoping they leave a long afterglow.

1 comment so far

Winning against an insipid India last summer means nothing.McDermott had the bowlers going well and it was they who did the heavy lifting.clarke's "try this,try that " style may win him a few games but not against solid opposition and it is not what I would call good captaincy.If he thinks his "demands" of aggression are needed then he has selected the wrong cattle.